Section 10 of the Children and Families Act 2014
Key facts
- Section 10 is the statute that makes the MIAM a legal requirement in England and Wales.
- It says that before making a relevant family application, a person must attend a family mediation information and assessment meeting.
- It came into force on 22 April 2014 and applies to the applicant, not the respondent.
- “Relevant family application” covers, in practice, most private applications about children and most contested financial remedy applications.
- The section lets the Family Procedure Rules create exemptions, which they do in Part 3, with detail in Practice Direction 3A.
- It requires attendance at a meeting about mediation. It has never required anyone to mediate.
Every MIAM booked in England and Wales traces back to one short section of an Act of Parliament. Section 10 of the Children and Families Act 2014 is the legal source of the rule that you must meet a family mediator before asking the family court to resolve a dispute about children or money. Solicitors cite it, court forms are built around it, and the reforms of April 2024 stand on its shoulders.
Statutes are rarely pleasant reading, but this one is mercifully brief and its structure is easy to follow once unpacked. This guide sets out what section 10 actually says, who it catches, what it deliberately leaves out, and how the court rules turn its few sentences into working procedure. It is part of our section on NCDR and the law.
What section 10 says
The operative rule sits in subsection (1), and it is a single sentence.
The law
Section 10(1), Children and Families Act 2014: “Before making a relevant family application, a person must attend a family mediation information and assessment meeting.” The rest of the section defines that meeting, defines a relevant family application by reference to the Family Procedure Rules, and allows those rules to create exemptions.
Three phrases carry the weight. “A person” means the person making the application: the applicant. “A relevant family application” is not defined exhaustively in the Act itself; instead the section hands that job to the Family Procedure Rules, which specify the types of application caught. And the “family mediation information and assessment meeting”, the MIAM, is defined by its purpose: a meeting where information is provided about mediation and other ways of resolving the dispute without the court, and where the suitability of those options for this particular dispute is assessed.
That definition matters. Parliament did not require people to receive a leaflet or watch a video. It required a meeting with assessment at its heart, which is why a MIAM is conducted by an authorised family mediator, one to one, and includes screening for domestic abuse and other factors that make mediation unsuitable. Our guide to what happens at a MIAM shows how that plays out in the meeting itself.
Where the section came from
Section 10 did not invent the MIAM. From April 2011 a pre-action protocol attached to the Family Procedure Rules already expected applicants to attend a mediation information meeting before starting proceedings, but it was an expectation rather than a statutory rule, and compliance was patchy. The Family Justice Review of 2011 recommended putting the requirement on a legislative footing, and the coalition government legislated in the Children and Families Act 2014.
The section came into force on 22 April 2014, alongside the launch of the single Family Court. From that date, attendance stopped being good practice and became a condition of making the application, checked by court staff and judges on the face of the application form.
The word “mediation” appears in the name of the meeting, but section 10 defines the MIAM as covering all ways a dispute might be resolved other than by the court. Since April 2024 the rules have leaned into that: the mediator is expected to discuss whichever form of non-court dispute resolution best suits the case, not just mediation.
Who the requirement applies to
The statutory duty falls on the applicant alone. If you are responding to an ex-partner’s application, section 10 does not require you to have attended a MIAM before the case begins. The rules and practice direction nonetheless expect a respondent to attend one if invited, and the mediator will normally contact the respondent to offer it, but the legal precondition attaches only to starting the case.
That asymmetry has consequences later. A respondent who refuses all engagement cannot block the application, but once proceedings are running both parties state their position on non-court dispute resolution, usually on the FM5 form, and in financial cases an unreasonable refusal can be reflected in costs. The MIAM requirement is the front door; it is no longer the only point of pressure.
What counts as a relevant family application
Section 10(3) defines a relevant family application as one made to the court in, or to initiate, family proceedings, and of a description specified in the Family Procedure Rules. The rules then do the specifying, and in practice two large categories are caught. The first is private law children proceedings: applications for child arrangements orders, prohibited steps orders and specific issue orders under section 8 of the Children Act 1989, made on the C100 form. The second is proceedings for a financial remedy: contested applications to divide money, property and pensions, made on Form A.
Equally telling is what falls outside. Public law proceedings such as care cases are not caught, nor is the divorce application itself, which since 2022 involves no dispute for a court to resolve. Applications made by consent, including asking the court to approve an agreed financial order, do not require a MIAM either. The form-by-form detail is in our guides to the C100 and the MIAM and Form A and the MIAM.
The exemption power
Parliament knew a blanket rule would cause injustice, so section 10(2) allows the Family Procedure Rules to disapply the requirement in specified circumstances. The rules use that power to create the MIAM exemptions: categories including evidence of domestic abuse, child protection involvement by a local authority, genuine urgency such as a risk the child will be removed from the country, the other party’s whereabouts being unknown, and attendance at a MIAM or another NCDR process for the same dispute within the previous four months.
An exemption is claimed on the application form itself, and several categories require evidence in a prescribed form. The claim is not the end of the matter: the court scrutinises exemptions at the gatekeeping stage, and where one was not validly claimed it can direct the applicant, or both parties, to attend a MIAM and pause the proceedings until they have. The complete list, and the evidence each category needs, is in our MIAM exemptions guide.
How the rules turn the section into procedure
A statute this short needs machinery, and Part 3 of the Family Procedure Rules provides it. The rules require the application form to carry either a confirmation from an authorised family mediator that the applicant attended a MIAM, or a claimed exemption. They set out who may conduct MIAMs, only mediators authorised through the Family Mediation Council, and what the meeting must cover. Practice Direction 3A adds the operational detail: how exemptions are evidenced, how courts check compliance, and what happens when a claimed exemption fails.
The same Part houses the court’s wider powers: the duty to consider non-court dispute resolution at every stage of a case, and the power to adjourn proceedings so it can happen. Section 10 supplies the statutory anchor at the start of a case; Part 3 keeps the question alive all the way through it. A MIAM itself typically costs £100 to £150 per person, and our MIAM section covers the practicalities from booking to sign-off.
What section 10 does not do
The most common misreading of section 10 is that it forces people to mediate. It does not, and never has. The duty is to attend a meeting about mediation and the other options; what you decide after that meeting is yours. If the mediator assesses the case as unsuitable, or you attend and decline to proceed, or the other person refuses to engage, the mediator signs the confirmation and the court application goes ahead.
Nor does the section impose any sanction of its own for non-compliance. Its force is practical: without the mediator’s confirmation or a valid exemption, the court will not process the application. The sharper consequences that now exist, adjournments for NCDR and costs orders for unreasonable refusal, come from the Family Procedure Rules as amended in April 2024, not from section 10 itself. Those are covered in our guide to costs consequences for refusing NCDR.
Section 10 in 2026
More than a decade after it came into force, section 10 reads less like a standalone rule and more like the foundation stone of a larger structure. The April 2024 reforms built directly on it: a wider definition of non-court dispute resolution, the FM5 statement of position, adjournment powers that no longer need both parties’ consent, and costs consequences in financial cases. None of that replaced the MIAM; all of it assumes the MIAM has happened.
For anyone facing separation now, the practical translation of section 10 is simple. Unless a genuine exemption applies, a MIAM is your first formal step towards court, and quite often, because the meeting works as intended, it turns out to be a first step away from it.
Frequently asked questions
Does section 10 force me to mediate with my ex?
No. It requires the applicant to attend a family mediation information and assessment meeting before making a relevant family application. The meeting explains and assesses mediation and other options; whether to proceed is your choice. If mediation is unsuitable or refused, the mediator signs the form and your application continues.
Which applications does the section 10 requirement cover?
In practice, private law children applications, such as child arrangements, prohibited steps and specific issue orders made on the C100, and contested financial remedy applications made on Form A. Divorce applications, consent order applications and public law proceedings such as care cases are not caught by the requirement.
When did the MIAM become a legal requirement?
On 22 April 2014, when section 10 of the Children and Families Act 2014 came into force. Before that, from April 2011, a pre-action protocol expected applicants to attend a mediation information meeting, but it was guidance rather than a statutory condition and was inconsistently followed.
Does my ex have to attend a MIAM under section 10?
The statutory duty applies only to the person making the application. Respondents are expected by the rules to attend a MIAM if invited, and mediators routinely contact them, but a respondent’s refusal does not stop the case. Once proceedings begin, though, both parties account for their position on NCDR, and unreasonable refusal can carry costs risks in financial cases.
What happens if I apply without a MIAM or a valid exemption?
The court checks compliance when the application is issued and at the gatekeeping stage. An application without a mediator’s confirmation or a valid exemption can be returned, or the court can direct you to attend a MIAM and pause the proceedings until you have. Claiming an exemption that does not hold up leads to the same result.
Sources
- Children and Families Act 2014, section 10, the full statutory text of the MIAM requirement (accessed July 2026).
- Family Procedure Rules, Part 3, the rules specifying relevant applications, exemptions and the court’s NCDR powers (accessed July 2026).
- Practice Direction 3A, the operational detail on MIAMs, exemptions and evidence (accessed July 2026).
- Children Act 1989, section 8, the children orders whose applications the requirement covers (accessed July 2026).
- Family Mediation Council: accredited family mediators, who is authorised to conduct MIAMs and sign court forms (accessed July 2026).